GUC Assist. Dir. John Worrell (center) welcomes visitors to open house for distributed generation installation at DSM Dyneema, Greenville, NC

A polyethylene (plastic) fiber manufacturer, DSM Dyneema has expanded its production capability rapidly since starting operations in Greenville, North Carolina, in 2003. Dyneema runs production 24/7 for a variety of product lines, with a current annual peak demand of about 12 MW. The Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC) and its wholesale power supplier, the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA), had been providing electric economic development credits for these plant expansions. As the majority of these credits began to expire a few years ago, GUC approached Dyneema to suggest the company install peak shaving generation to offset the expiring credits. Dyneema had heavily invested in plant expansions and did not have the capital or resources to finance a generator project.

Simultaneously, GUC’s wholesale peak power cost increased significantly to the point where the utility became willing to take on the generator project under a savings-sharing arrangement with the customer. Dyneema agreed with the proposal, and GUC selected PowerSecure as its distributed generation provider. The system is owned and operated by GUC and located onsite at Dyneema.

GUC’s current wholesale coincident peak (CP) demand cost is about $20 per kW. The CP demand cost is a direct pass through as a component in GUC’s Large General Service Electric Rate. Large industrial class customers can save the $20 per kW for curtailing their usage during the monthly peak. Some customers such as Dyneema do not have the capital or resources to operate a generator to realize the curtailment savings. According to John Worrell, Assistant Director of Electric Systems, “GUC has partnered with these customers on generator projects when the economics and return on investment provide them with energy savings individually and this in turn benefits all of GUC’s customers by reducing peak energy usage periods across the board.”

GUC provides Electric, Water, Wastewater, and Natural Gas services. After examining the current and forecasted fuel costs between diesel and natural gas, GUC determined the Dyneema project should be natural gas fired. “We specified a natural gas fired peak shaving generator project and awarded the project through a competitive bid process,” Worrell said. “PowerSecure submitted the perfect natural gas fired solution that met the project specification and also had the best competitive price. Their PowerBlock design is also a step forward in reliability and redundancy for critical peak shaving and standby operations. Since going online in July 2016, the financial savings are performing almost exactly in line with the estimates. We expect, including customer credits, a project ROI of less than five years.”

Worrell noted, “Any large construction project has many challenges and this project had its share. PowerSecure personnel met the project timelines and were very responsive to concerns or issues as they arose during design and construction. PowerSecure’s sales team is top notch and focused on product reliability while keeping their customer satisfied. We are extremely happy with the final product we received.”